Chad's chit chat little channel

So I spent about 2 hours cleaning my apartment and another hour and a half going through nostalgic items. Seeing how my life was exactly a year ago really shows me how much I adapted out here in Japan. Looking at mail, bills, letters, and homework from last year really showed me how much I have improved. I’m surprised to say this but I am going to miss that apartment; there are a lot of good memories there and a lot of bittersweet moments from that apartment as well. I hope the new apartment I go to dishes out some better enjoyable experiences. Also cool neighbors would be really nice too… Not like the jerks from my old one that would never look at you and acknowledge you lived there or was within the same area as they were.

I am going to China in less than 3 days and I am so excited for this. My girlfriend Jie has given me an amazing surprise 4 months prior to this trip, the surprise of course being a trip to China with a free stay at her folks place. Canada was the first country I ever visited followed by Japan in my mid teens. I visited Japan two more times since then and the second time would be a long stay for studying abroad. Thanks to the fact I go to a International college I can meet all kinds of people from different countries. Hence the reason I am able to go to China within the next few days. I would just like to enlighten you the reader and remind myself how difficult it was to get this all going for China and my girlfriend’s sake.

first of all you need a crap ton of paper work to fill out and get ready because you need to get a visitor Visa with China. If you are a country that is all about freedom, liberty, and the per suite of happiness then you are going to have to do what I had to do. You gotta print out papers about your flight, how long you intend to stay, the hotel you will be staying in, a copy of your passport, a copy of your id in America (I used my drivers license) and since I live in Japan a copy of my foreigner registration card.

I would also like to tag onto this that if you live in Japan you also need to get a re entry permit from one of the town halls they have in Japan. It costs around $30 for a 1 time go and come back, and $60 for as many times as you like. I got the $60 one because I am going to China and I am going back to Hawaii this summer for my sister’s wedding.

Now then… Once I had all the paper work sorted out I had to go to Tokyo (Roppongi 六本木）and hit up the Chinese Embassy. There I had to walk into a smelly dump of a place and find the over crowded room for people wanting to go to China. There was a fair amount of Chinese people there but also some really quirky American’s trying to get to China for reasons I don’t want to know. The people that worked there were always upset with each person that came in because they could either not speak Japanese or they didn’t have the paper fully worked out. Also I would like to add some dude was all offended that no one could speak English in a Chinese Embassy…in Japan…*rolls eyes*

So my girl friend and I finished the paper work and some how go through with flying colors to have to wait in another line for a solid hour to apply for my Visa. It was pretty simplistic after handing everything in but, I had to give up my visa and come back within the next 3 days to pick it up again to see if they allow me in. I was somewhat enraged they couldn’t just do it there because it is one heck of a haul from Togane東金 to Tokyo! Not to mention it costs nearly $20 both ways (unless you know how to cheat the system) Any way to make a long story short we left and came back to that smelly hell hole with freaks and loud people to finally pick up my visa. Here comes the best part, are you ready? The cost for an American to go to China as a visitor costs $150 frigging dollars! Wellp! there goes half my months worth of food I could of used. Although I should not complain since I get to stay with my squeezes’s folks and not pay a cent.

So there you have it! That is what it is like to get a lovely Chinese Tourist Visa, hope you enjoyed this small portion of reading.

Have a great day and God bless

私はハワイから来ました。これから、城西国際大学の学生として日本で勉強します。日本語での勉強は難しいですが、私は、ここで勉強するのが大好きです。城西国際大学で学部生になれてとても嬉しいです。ここの人達は皆親切で優しいです。その上、ここでは色々な国から来たたくさんの留学生に会うことが出来ます。授業は、とても面白いです。私もいつか、英語の先生として日本で教えることが出来たらと思って勉強しています。これから、もっともっと勉強するつもりです。